Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-08-13
DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
THE pERllS AND DIFFICULTIES OF
TEACHING FORTY YEARS AGO.

A Chicago Journalist Gives a Rit of His
Pedagogical Experience In Tanning the
Juvenile M-nsssrie ut tn. Cross Roads
school House.
Not one Of the teachers Of the district
| schools ever fancied that discipline coil
be enforced without corporal punshr.,. +;
in fact, the people esteemed him in prupor-
ton Ia his severity. Generally the ia. tTU-
ment of torture was fiat ruler 9 (
hardwood, and was applied to the open
palm of the hand. Some of the brutes
who handled this weapon seemed To de
light in its use and employed it on the
slightest excuse, and not nfrequenily
without any cause have been fer uled
scores of times without the consciousness
OF having committed any offense what
ever.
The women who taught in the summer
did not use the ferrulc. but generally n
switch, the offender often being sent out
to cut the instrument with which he was
to be punished. One feminine teacher was
an ingenious torturer who constantly in
vented novel methods of punishment. One
was to put a closed penknife between the
| fingers of the victim, press the fingers tight
| to the handle, and then twist the latter
till the pupil howled over the intolerable
pain.
While fitting for college taught district
schools for several winters. and so abhor-
| rent were the various punishmcnts which
| had suffered when boy that | deter
mined never to strike pupil unless in alb
sOlute self defense And | never did.
| taught in some pretty tough localities,
where punishments had been the rue from
| time immemorial.
THE CROSS ROADS SCHOOL.
There Is, or was, a cross road settle
ment on the Sacondaga river in which was
district school that was famous all
| through the region for the barbar-
ism and intractable character of it's
| scholars. l applied for it one winter. and
WAS laughed at by the trustee to whom
made the application.
Why, they throwed out the teacher
last winter; and that amt all either; they
mutilated him 80 that he II be a cripple
for life
After much parleying ! succeeded in
getting the engagement, it being under
stood on the part Of the trustees that if l
lasted a week il would be u miracle
The pupils who presented themselves on
the opening day were not n choice lot. Most
Of them were from the hills, and were but
little more advanced than savages in book
learning There were some half dozen
boys rs old as, or older than, myself, and
two or three huiking chaps who were con-
sidersbly larger than myself in physical
dimensions. They looked me over with
about the same glance that q bull dog
might q slender terrier but for several
days were on their good behavior being
of the opinion that when the time came
they would thrown me out without
trouble. 1t was the case Of half dozen
cats playing with q feeble mouse.
SIZING UP THE CROWD.
Isoon sized up the crowd. and found
that the leader was a sullen brute Of some
25 years Of age, who could just barely
spell words of two OF three letters. and
could not even write his name. He good
naturedly allowed me 10 order him up to
repeat his letters with an air as il saying:
"All right for a week or SO, but vel show
you by and by" A fortnight after the
school opened he WAS more sullen than
usual one day, and when l requested him
to come out and recite his letters guessed
he didn't want to say no lesson
Very we'll When recess comes you'll
keep your seat and not 60 out with the
boys
His ugly face took on a deeper scowl
than usual and he glanced around at the
other big boys, with a glance which said,
"Now's the time! Well tackle him. 1t
was a half hour before recess. Meanwhile
he pulled out an immense pocket knife,
opened 1t, and then, when he saw me look
ing toward him, he jsbbed the blade os-
tentatiously into the desk. The smaller
scholars saw that a storm was brewing
and were uneasy; the larger ones moved
about, and evidently thought the crisis
was at hand.
When the hour for the recess came /
picked up the heavy iron poker and carry
ing 1t As If it were a cane, l opened the
door and said: The boys may have q re-
cess" As did so ] fixed my eyes ON the
rufIian with the jackknife, with a genial
smile on my lips. The other large boys
hesitated for an instant, as if expecting
him to make a start. He quailed as he
saw my attitude and the poker, and kept
his seat. The other boys saw the game
was up, and went out; they had no leader,
and the combination was broken. never
had the slightest further trouble. Even
the brute with the jackknife became, after
his fashion. my friend, and actually gave
some attention to his books, and by spring
could both read and write 10 fair extent
The people Of the district patiently
waited TO see me come through the win
dows in sections; but the event never hap
pened. tanned the menagerie aud never
struck one Of the beasts u blow
uto" in Chicago Times.